The Nashville Predators are avoiding sell mode as long as possible this season. Don’t expect to see general manager Barry Trotz pulling the trigger on any big trades.
The Predators enter the Christmas week with a 15-16-4 record, and are five points out of a wild-card position. While there’s been tons of talks around the futures of Steven Stamkos, Michael Bunting, and Jonathan Marchessault, Trotz spoke with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun and put some water on the burning hot trade rumors.
Ryan O’Reilly doesn’t have trade protection and has been linked to just about every playoff team, however, O’Reilly has made it clear he doesn’t want to be traded and Trotz isn’t interested in moving out the former Conn Smythe winner.
“Sometimes people focus in on wins and losses and not necessarily the process,” Trotz told The Athletic on Monday. “Fortunately, I can see the process downstairs here — how the coaches are working with the players, how the players are responding to the coaches. I just felt that the players were not giving up on the coaches, and the coaches weren’t giving up on the players. They actually were coming together.”
“We’re playing more consistent. That’s the biggest thing,” Trotz said. “The thing we struggled with at the start of the year was consistency. We moved a lot of players out last year and brought a few in. It just takes time sometimes, and we’re starting to have a more consistent identity. The guys are playing well right now as a team. Let’s see where it goes. We’re going to go about our business, and we’ll see how it plays out in the next two months here.”
The Preds have just under $10 million in cap space, and own a boat load of draft picks the next two years, including two second-rounders in 2026, and four third-rounders in 2027. While a full rebuild is something Trotz wants to avoid for as long as possible, it feels like this current roster isn’t good enough, and Trotz will have to give in at some point here.
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